Relationship between the Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Some Socioeconomic and Demographic Factors in the Rural Households of Arak, 2014

Prevalence of food insecurity has a different pattern around the world. Recognizing the prevalence of food insecurity and its different related factors can be effective in reducing or controlling its spread via the appropriate policies and programs. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of food insecurity and some related socioeconomic (SES) and demographic factors in the rural households of Arak/Iran in 2014. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 373 rural households of Arak who were selected by multistage random sampling. Tools for data gathering were USDA food security scale and the form of demographic and family economic assets. To determine household economic status, the model of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used. Statistical analysis was conducted by SPSS20 and STATA11. The prevalence of food insecurity without hunger, moderate hunger and extreme hunger was 50.4%, 24.4% and 1.6%, respectively. Sex and age of householder, parental education, number of children, income and household economic status were significantly associated with food insecurity (p<0.05). By controlling the effect of other factors, only household economic status was a significant predictor of food security status; so that in the households with low economic status (compared with the high economic status households), the odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals of food insecurity was 3.68 (1.51-8.98). The prevalence of food insecurity was high in the investigated areas. Considering the relevant factors, preventive and controlling actions of food insecurity and improvement of the quantity and quality of household foods in rural areas, especially in underserved and vulnerable groups are needed.